Richard Sandor speaks about innovation in the financial markets

Department of Economics alumnus Richard Sandor, PhD '67, spoke at a February event hosted by the University of Chicago titled Innovation: From Idea to Reality. Sandor, an entrepreneur and leader in developing financial markets, shared his experience creating three new markets: T-Bond Futures, Climate Futures, and AMERIBOR, the successor to LIBOR. He currently serves as chairman and CEO of the American Financial Exchange, and previously founded the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Sandor's work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 2007, Time magazine recognized Sandor as one of the magazine's heroes of the environment for his work as the father of carbon trading. Since then, he has continued to bring innovative thinking to financial markets.

When asked about the essential traits of an entrepreneur, Sandor advised the audience, "I think the most important thing is you have to enjoy competing, and you have to hate losing. And you've got to be persistent. Every day, the odds are stacked against an entrepreneur... You have to look at a wall, crash into it, back off, assess the damage, and then crash into it again."

Watch the video or read the full transcript of the event.

The family of Richard and Ellen Sandor generously established the Jon Goldstein Memorial Lecture on Economics and Environmental Policy, hosted annually by the University of Minnesota Department of Economics.The lecture honors fellow Minnesota alumnus Jon Heller Goldstein, PhD '64, and highlights important topics and voices in environmental economics.